"Arthur, you… you…!"
Muttering the same word again and again, Lucy stared at them both in abject horror. Raiden looked at her and tilted his head.
"Huh? Whatcha staring for? Oh, right, didn't I kill—"
"Shut it…!"
Without further delay, the woman lunged at him, without any plans of any kind, simply deciding to settle it with her bare hands, regardless of whether she lived or died.
She unleashed a series of punches, all of which Raiden either evaded or parried, as she herself wasn't much of a fighter. After she'd thrown some, he quickly struck her with the back of the axe piece of the halberd, right in the side, damaging her ribcage.
She fell down, to which the sisters all jumped in. Arthur frowned slightly beneath the helmet, before deciding to just leave, allowing strength to be the factor that decided everything.
He went back to go kill more and more dragons, doing it all without that terrible face of his being visible.
He fought endlessly, the conflicts all mixing together, creating a blend of monotonous destruction.
It happened again and again. He would attack with the strengthened tentacles, drain blood, kill, and then repeat the process. Of course, he got banged up quite a bit as he did so, but it wasn't particularly noteworthy.
…
With all that being said, it was a victory for his side. The wind dragons, all of them had been killed, since they dispatched every single member.
An entire family had been wiped out, ending the bloodline forever and ever.
So, Arthur received a pat on the back from Todd. "Well, we won. Now, all we have to do is wait, since I'm sure those other pesky dragons will arrive."
"Hm. Which ones?"
"Well, the Earth Dragons are bound to arrive, and they're the ones I'm most worried about. Next, you've got the Sword Dragons, the Gravity Dragons, the Disease Dragons, the Star Dragons, the Mind Dragons, the Soul Dragon, and maybe a few more I can't really remember all that well."
It was indeed a fair amount. Arthur nodded his head in understanding, before hearing footsteps approach from behind.
He turned around, seeing a blood-covered Raiden.
"Tch. Whatcha talkin to this guy of all people for?" Asked Raiden, gritting his teeth.
"Just getting information."
The Storm Dragons and the War Dragons were not on good terms, only allying for the sake of this one moment. It was actually a scenario of unparalleled unity among dragons, as there were only 2 sides against each other, instead of dozens of families all fighting each other, with a few allies of course.
Seeing the blood on him, Arthur asked the big question.
"Did you kill those women?" He asked. Raiden looked at him with a smirk, nodding his head.
"Well, you seemed to have the hots for the extra long pinky, so I let her live. The others, however, got beat up pretty badly."
"And what of Lucy? The white haired girl?"
"Well, she was the first one. I beat her and left her for dead, since she attacked first. Why, did you have the hots for her too?"
"No."
"Alrighty. So, what now?" Raiden wondered. Todd told him that they would seek out the other dragons, as there was a dragon who could pinpoint people due to their Dragon Art.
While they were talking, both Damien and Jack approached them.
"Hey, Arthur," Damien weakly mumbled. Arthur turned his chin towards him, leering down and seeing Damien holding his phone in his hands.
"Do you wanna hang out?" Asked Damien.
It was a pretty normal question, and one that truly didn't have any malicious intent behind it. After all, they were siblings, yet they never hung out at all. So it was a true, genuine question.
Previously, Arthur would have rejected, as a way to distance himself from Damien. After all, Damien was someone he cared for, and if he became friends with Damien, it might make him sad if he died.
However, Arthur had changed from then, having grown. Not as a person, but rather growing in his own suffering. So, even something like this didn't stir much within him.
That question, of why he continued to do what he did, had no answer. No answer that would be found beyond himself, of course.
So, he thought it so, that he didn't need a reason. He simply would, as an unfaltering existence.
So, with little left to do, he opted to accept. Not out of wish to enjoy any time with a sibling, but rather just as a way to pass the time.
Truly, he'd become, and was, a despicable person. Everything done was just to pass the time until he died. Whether that be from steroid abuse, or in combat.
…
Everyone had healed up, so they began to track them down. Arthur watched videos with Damien on the car-ride.
Todd had suggested fighting the Earth Dragons as quickly as possible. They were perhaps the strongest family, so it made sense to not want to be whittled down before facing them.
Eventually, they entered a fairly large city, and everyone arrived at one singular building. It was a skyscraper, one in which the members of the King family were all present, for some reason.
Upon everyone's arrival, they were met with one singular man.
A man of average height and a lean, athletic build with green and blue hair. He walked over to them, a straight face plastered on his head.
"So many guests. Might I ask for your reasons for being here?" He asked.
Todd spoke up for everyone, walking over towards the man.
"Hey bud, it's been a while, hasn't it? I can see the bulk hasn't gone too well," Todd teased, to which the man frowned slightly.
"You ought to know better than to tease a superior dragon, Todd," said Eugene King, the current head of the King family.
"Lighten up! Man, and you seemed awfully convicted to build more muscle last time I saw you…" Todd laughed.
Eugene was silent, looking down, a slightly sad expression, as his feelings were genuinely rather hurt.
"It's hard to gain proper muscle when you're constantly either fighting or stressing about life, man. Everything I gain is fat, so I have to work hard to keep even this much…"
"Okay, okay, enough venting," Todd began. "So, as for your question, we're here to kill your family. Do you have any objections?"
Despite Eugene seeming to be a bit of a sensitive person, he did not flinch at his family being threatened.
"Well, on that front—"
Arthur Graves was present. So it was only natural that he'd lunge at Eugene, the cutlass drawn and swiftly swinging it at his very head. The Earth Dragon evaded, a dull expression on his face before Arthur felt his feet trapped to the ground, encased in the earth.
Whenever Arthur tried to break out, he was met with a thunderous boom to his back, one which shattered his spinal cord. He grit his teeth for a moment, feeling a terrible sensation in his lower body.
His spine had been broken, yet it wasn't ending there. He lost his capabilities of movement, and immediately, Eugene ordered everyone to stand down.
With all of the dragons present, even they admitted defeat at that moment. Or at least, a lack of willingness to act.
The punch that Eugene threw was forcibly ripping through his body, pushing forward, practically ignoring his skin and organs. When Arthur looked down, unable to feel his legs, he saw a protrusion from his gut, before it was torn open, revealing a literal red hand.
Impaled with a punch. Such was the fate Arthur was faced with at the moment.
The cutlass shattered, transforming into armor and those tentacles which launched at Eugene, who was behind him. Eugene disappeared, evading the blow and appearing right at the front of the building once more, just a few feet in front of Arthur.
Arthur healed himself, breaking his legs free from the ground, taking a step back and looking at Eugene.
"What the… was that—"
"Yes," Eugene replied, making a guess at what Arthur was going to ask.
"A punch that surpasses the speed of sound. I was very gifted, and I've trained my body well. That is the result."
Arthur collected himself, sighing and nodding his head in understanding.
…
Eugene stood at 5 foot 8, weighing 191 pounds, despite being lean. He had undergone a self-done surgery in which he'd replaced his bones with titanium, to give himself an edge in combat.
So, Eugene's fist weighed around 1.146 pounds. Breaking the speed of sound and even surpassing it, going at around 800 meters a second, that energy added up to 166,341 joules.
Such speed surpassed many guns, making it nigh impossible to dodge. In fact, it surpassed even Arthur's "Great Swing," the one which broke the sound barrier and launched 5 pound shards in terms of sheer energy produced.
…
And if it was like that, then Arthur should be quite wary indeed.
Eugene trained his body, not for lifting, but for the maximal explosive force behind strikes. So, his fists were, quite literally, the most dangerous thing Arthur had faced off against.
In fact, the reason Arthur wasn't immediately impaled by the strike was not due to it not being strong enough. He had unequipped the armor, so by all means, Eugene took so long due to him taking his time, rather than being unable to instantly kill Arthur.
Such was the reason why Eugene was considered the second strongest dragon, second only to Chad.
"Please," Eugene begged. "Do not face me. I mean this for your sake, not mine."
Todd smirked, before dozens upon dozens of dragons began to roll in from the sky.
"Hey Eugene?" Todd asked, keeping a smile, saying his words as if they were the beginning of a joke.
"What?"
"You were fun to hang out with. But I'm sorry, man, this is the end for you."
"I see. If that's the case, then…" Eugene muttered, appearing behind Todd and impaling him through the chest with that powerful punch, one which broke the sound barrier and completely eviscerated Todd's chest, hollowing it out.
"Why don't I just kill you here?"
Todd turned his head back, chortling a laugh.
"By all means, go ahead. Tell me, is it even possible for you to—"
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
An onslaught, a symphony, a tornado of explosions, all generated from that one singular area.
The man who was the root of that chaos, Todd, was left behind in a giant pile of smoke. And, to Eugene, who was left behind, heavily damaged as a result of that barrage of explosions, he was left behind in that very cloud of smoke, before being kicked out of it and sent a few feet away out of it.
The other dragons nearby, those on Todd's team, were all damaged by the shrapnel, meaning they had to heal their injuries.
"Ka, ahaha, kahaha!"
As the smoke cleared, it was clear who the victor of that brief scuffle was. An uninjured Todd, though his clothes were entirely removed, making him create new clothes as "weapons."
Eugene got up from the ground, looking at Todd, who kept that stupid, smug grin of his.
"Well? 'Second Strongest,' it seems that even if you're stronger, I was the one who nearly killed you, yeah?"
Eugene clicked his tongue, forming clothes from dirt using his Dragon Art: "World's King."
The reason the attack had worked so well was that it caught Eugene off guard in an assault of grenades which Todd had summoned without their pins, leading to a mass of explosions.
It should be a no-brainer, but explosions are a bit stronger than bullets.
Todd wasn't damaged by his own weapons, so it was, by all means, an absolute victory for Todd, who had accomplished his main goal.
Eugene's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, looking down at his body.
"Oh?" Todd began. "What's wrong? Feeling a little lighter than usual?"
Indeed, the explosions had blown apart his body to such an extent, that when he regenerated, they did not reform the titanium replacements with the bio-mass. So while titanium implants were still inside of him, he was more "human" than "metal."
…
His eyes back up at the sky, Arthur saw the other dragons all fly down to begin their assault.
Arthur brought forth his armor, wielding that familiar cutlass.
Though he could form great tentacles once more, the fact remained that those tentacles weren't invincible.
And, if Arthur had to guess, there were now over 100 dragons on the scene, taking up an unbelievable amount of room.
They landed on buildings, on the streets, practically everywhere. Because they took up so much room, using tendrils that are prone to breaking, as well as remaining in one place, wasn't a good idea.
So, it would be best if he simply acted as a zooming assassin, cutting up everything in his wake.
Having made his decision, he jumped around, slicing dragons up, but not killing them instantly. After all, these guys would regenerate very quickly, so it was hard to kill them.
In response to the chaos of having a mere humanoid rush around, cutting the beautiful, pristine, pure dragons, a move that would change the tides of the battle was unleashed.
Baring her fangs, Homula Pocampus, member of the Pocampus family, a Mind Dragon, unleashed a scream which shook all who heard it, ignoring might entirely.
…
The Witch, as a dormant existence, desperately swam towards the surface.
Drowning in her own abyss. The raging waters that were her mind, such a man-eating sea would not let her escape, no matter how close she got to the surface.
Tied down, tied down, unable to move, and helpless.
Until one moment, she heard a voice calling for her.
This time, she knew. She swam up to the surface, cried out for a hand, and received one.
She exited the dark, dark abyss, having surpassed death once more.
…
Arthur crashed his head into the ground, shattering the concrete in an attempt to ease the pain.
"Afh, hgah, gya, stop, I don't—I don't want, it hurts, I'm sorry, mom, I'm sorry, mom, I'm sorry, mom—"
The water began to rise, momentarily snapping him out of the spinning world he found himself in.
He blinked a few times, feeling his hands and feet beginning to grow decayed and old.
To which, he sprouted wings and flew off into the air. To which, quite literally every dragon did the same.
He looked down, still absolutely bewildered at the existences of himself and others at the moment, seeing the darkness begin to rise.
"K-kah, hg, what… is this, what, wh?"
The Witch had returned, her darkness drowning thousands in it.